Hekmat Aboukhater is an MPP candidate at the Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs. He is also the director of the Young Voices Debates series in New York City. At the Jackson School, Aboukhater plans to pursue coursework in foreign policy, development and international economics, and on the broader topic of multinational institutions.

Previously, Hekmat worked as a researcher with the Quincy Institute’s Democratizing Foreign Policy program and worked with the United Nations Department of Peacebuilding and Political Affairs. Hekmat completed a bachelor’s degree in international relations and economics at Boston College and a master’s degree from EDJ Nice in France.

Hekmat grew up in Aleppo, Syria, and immigrated along with his family to the U.S. in 2015.